Jewish Kings and Jewish Royal Authority
Reading: 2 Samuel 5:1-5
David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years.
2 Samuel 5:4
David had forty years on the throne, the right amount of time to get God’s job done. And what
was that? According to the divine job description “you shall be shepherd of my people Israel,
you shall be ruler over Israel” (v.2). Jewish kings are called to be “rulers over” by being
“shepherds under.” How so “under?” It’s all in the word shepherd, and whose shepherd David
is. The sheep are not David’s; they belong to God. What then is his link with the sheep?
Simple, to keep them alive and well for the One they belong to. When danger threatens, the
shepherd dies (if necessary) so that the sheep survive. He is there to preserve them, not vice
versa.
The pattern of oriental kings in David’s time was the exact opposite. The people were
the king’s property, finally at his disposal. Which is exactly what such kings did--often by the
thousands. At one crucial time (and a few more besides) David switched from the Jewish to the
oriental model for his royal office. Clearest of all is his interaction with Bathsheba and her
husband Uriah. He acts as though he’s their owner, and since that contradicts the contract he
has with God, the consequences are deadly for all concerned.
Good as David was, God needed a better shepherd for God’s people. On this Sunday
before Easter we celebrate just such a genuine descendent of David, an authentic Jewish king,
the final Good Shepherd. We follow him this week on the last mile of the way to the cross.
Here he gives his life for the sheep, and in that very act gives his life to the sheep. When later
this week he’s called “King of the Jews,” that’s what it’s all about. Keep this “Jewishness” in
mind as Holy Week unfolds.
Prayer : You sent us Jesus, dear God, by the way of the cross. That marks him indelibly as your final
Good Shepherd for us. In his Easter victory you called him from death to extend his commission
to us as sub-shepherds, his and yours, to rescue the lost, to heal the injured, to lay down our own
lives for one another. Empower us to do what you’ve commissioned us to be. Amen.
Reading: 2 Samuel 5:1-5
David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years.
2 Samuel 5:4
David had forty years on the throne, the right amount of time to get God’s job done. And what
was that? According to the divine job description “you shall be shepherd of my people Israel,
you shall be ruler over Israel” (v.2). Jewish kings are called to be “rulers over” by being
“shepherds under.” How so “under?” It’s all in the word shepherd, and whose shepherd David
is. The sheep are not David’s; they belong to God. What then is his link with the sheep?
Simple, to keep them alive and well for the One they belong to. When danger threatens, the
shepherd dies (if necessary) so that the sheep survive. He is there to preserve them, not vice
versa.
The pattern of oriental kings in David’s time was the exact opposite. The people were
the king’s property, finally at his disposal. Which is exactly what such kings did--often by the
thousands. At one crucial time (and a few more besides) David switched from the Jewish to the
oriental model for his royal office. Clearest of all is his interaction with Bathsheba and her
husband Uriah. He acts as though he’s their owner, and since that contradicts the contract he
has with God, the consequences are deadly for all concerned.
Good as David was, God needed a better shepherd for God’s people. On this Sunday
before Easter we celebrate just such a genuine descendent of David, an authentic Jewish king,
the final Good Shepherd. We follow him this week on the last mile of the way to the cross.
Here he gives his life for the sheep, and in that very act gives his life to the sheep. When later
this week he’s called “King of the Jews,” that’s what it’s all about. Keep this “Jewishness” in
mind as Holy Week unfolds.
Prayer : You sent us Jesus, dear God, by the way of the cross. That marks him indelibly as your final
Good Shepherd for us. In his Easter victory you called him from death to extend his commission
to us as sub-shepherds, his and yours, to rescue the lost, to heal the injured, to lay down our own
lives for one another. Empower us to do what you’ve commissioned us to be. Amen.
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